Purdue Volleyball Falls at Minnesota, 3-1

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Purdue volleyball team put forth an impressive enough
showing Sunday afternoon to offer encouragement for the rest of the 1997
season.

Nevertheless, the Boilermakers still dropped a 15-13, 6-15, 10-15, 11-15
decision to Minnesota before 1,206 fans at the Sports Pavilion and a
SportsChannel/Fox Sports Chicago regional television audience. The loss was
Purdue's fourth in a row to open Big Ten Conference play and dropped its
overall record to 7-8.

The 0-4 start to conference play is the Boilermakers' worst since the 1994
season (the year before Joey Vrazel took over as coach). Minnesota improved to
13-2, 3-1 with the victory.

Once again, the Boilermakers looked like world beaters at times, but their only
consistency was inconsistency.

``I thought our effort was much better today, but we still were not able to
maintain a high level of play,'' Vrazel said. ``I thought we worked hard and
battled, but you need more than that to win in this league.''

Sophomore outside hitter Kelly Colangelo agreed: ``We left everything out on
the court. Our effort was outstanding. But we absolutely cannot keep having
those stretches where we make a bunch of errors. There's no question they are
killing us.''

The Boilermakers overcame a 6-7 deficit in Game 1 with six straight points to
forge ahead 12-7. Kelly Colangelo rifled a pair of service aces and Sarah Emke
had three kills during the run. Minnesota battled back to even the score at
13-all before a kill by Katie Gibbons and a block by Colangelo accounted for
the final two points.

Game 2 was a microcosm of the Boilermakers' season to date. They got off to a
slow start at 1-5, regrouped to make it interesting at 6-9 but ultimately could
not sustain their level of play and saw Minnesota score the last six points
while managing just one sideout. Four Purdue errors helped the Gophers' cause
down the stretch.

The inconsistency continued in Game 3 as Purdue raced to a 6-0 lead behind the
serving of Christi Kelsey. But four straight errors allowed Minnesota to get
right back in the game at 6-4, and the Gophers later used eight consecutive
points to take command at 12-7. Then the Boilermakers rebounded, but it was too
late as Minnesota was undaunted.

Purdue held 7-4 and 8-5 advantages in Game 4 only to see the Gophers came back
again and jump in front 9-8. It was later tied 11-all before Minnesota finished
matters.

Four Boilermakers finished with double figures in kills: Bev Krupa and Connie
Paul (16 apiece), Emke (14) and Colangelo (13). Emke also had five blocks,
while Krupa came up with nine digs.

Minnesota outhit the Boilermakers .305 to .211, outblocked them 15-8 and outdug
them 62-40.

Next up the Boilermakers play host to Ohio State (10-6, 1-3) on Wednesday and
two-time defending Big Ten champion Michigan State (12-5, 2-2) on Friday. Both
matches begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility.